Years ago, I’d vowed to be his second. I’d been serious then, and I was serious now. Fate had set me on the same ship as Karter at this time. I was meant to be his second, to protect the female we would both love, and I would not take my responsibility lightly.
I would not turn away from this, and I would not allow Kaed Karter to deny me what was mine. Our female. Our mate. He obviously needed someone to knock some sense into that thick skull, and I would not deny my responsibility. I didn’t want to.
Standing, I left the console and made my way to the transport room. There, I walked in with purpose. Injured were lined up awaiting their turn at being sent to a viable ship with a med unit. With ReGen pods to heal them.
Karter turned at my entrance, came around the wounded being tended on the floor. “I thought you’d be off collecting the data from the probe, then off to I.C.”
I shook my head, clenching my fists as a wounded fighter was carried up to the transport pad, then disappeared. The vibrations of the transport buzzed beneath my feet, but I was so used to the electrical current in the air, the hairs on my body no longer stood on end.
“I await our mate,” I said plainly.
Karter’s dark eyes widened and he set his hands on his hips. It might have been five years since I’d seen him last, but I knew him well. Remembered the intensity, his focus. “Our mate?”
“You asked me to be your second and I accepted, Kaed. Vows were made. Do you deny it?”
“That was before you died.”
I paused. “Have you chosen another as your second?” I asked. The strange sensation of… hurt swelled in my chest.
“Fuck you, Ronan.”
I knew it. Even with me dead, he’d been too damn stubborn to break his oath to me. “I’m your second, Commander. And since your weak-willed second in command allowed you to set foot on this ship, you clearly need me to help you protect our female.”
“She’s not mine. I was tested years ago. I don’t have time for a mate. My life is not suited for a female. Fuck, look where we are! This ship is barely holding together. One small meteor bouncing off the exterior shields and it might crumple. Blown to bits by an unknown Hive weapon.” He raised his arm indicating the others around us. Injured. Proof of how evil the Hive could be. “And she’s coming here. Why would the Brides Program match an innocent, from Earth, to be mine? This is my life.”
His words rang true. He was a battlegroup commander. Important. Valuable. And always in the thick of danger.
“We will not remain on this ship. She will be safe on Battleship Karter.”
“Will she? Varsten is dead and he knew this… weapon was aiming right for him. You said Battlegroup Hyrad was blown to bits last week. The entire battlegroup. Thousands are dying and yet I have a mate arriving in the thick of it.”
“We will protect her.”
He tried to smile, but it looked more a sneer. “And you? Her second? A member of the I.C. so stealthy you don’t even exist. How can you be her second; how will you protect her, if you aren’t here, if you exist only as a ghost? A dead man?”
I reached down, cupped my cock. “I assure you, I am very much alive. I am a commander, Kaed, equal in rank to you. And she will not doubt that when we claim her.”
“We are a danger to her.”
Thank fuck he’d used the word we. “We do not know why she comes. Her reasons for being a bride. Is she fleeing danger on Earth? Was a male harming her? Does she seek protection from two males? She needs what only you can give her if she was matched to you.”
Slowly, he shook his head, let his hands fall to his sides. The hum of the transport picked up again, and I glanced up as another wounded fighter disappeared. Within a second, he’d be with the med techs on Battleship Karter, getting the help he needed.
“We aren’t safe. We are a danger to her. And with you off on missions, she will not have two mates to satisfy her. Protect her. How can you say you’ll be her second if you won’t be there to keep her safe if something happens to me? And it will. It is only a matter of time.”
I stepped closer, set my hand on his shoulder, looked my friend in the eye in a way I hadn’t done in a half a decade. “She is coming here. She is yours. You will solve this like you solve all problems.”
He stepped back. “Exactly. A problem. What female wants to be a mate who is considered a problem?”
“Commander,” the transport tech called. “Your mate is arriving next. We have paused transporting the injured for her arrival.”
Kaed gave me a knowing look. A mate complicated everything. Delayed the remaining injured from getting the help they needed. It wasn’t her fault. She had no control of being sent from Earth. It was the Interstellar Brides Program that sent mates when matched.
“I want her. I vowed to be your second and I will not renege on that. It may have been five years since we’ve seen each other last, but my honor has not changed. Nor has yours.”
The vibration began again. This time, we turned to look at the platform. It was empty and before our eyes, she appeared. Sprawled across the metal surface, she looked like one of the injured, except for no blood. Unconscious.
And, as I had dreamed, very soft. Curved. And very, very naked.